Who Was Auntie Glad

 

Yesterday I was asked by a new reader who auntie Glad was? 

They had seen my reference to her in my blog bio ( see right)

I will share this piece with them, I think it will do nicely…..

This is the story of my very first meeting with Auntie Gladys.

She was in her mid eighties back then and was selling her Flower Show raffle tickets around the village and its surrounds.

She would sell four to five hundred in consecutive afternoons

This was back in 2006
The Jungle telegraph had alerted to most that there was a new Gay couple in the village

I bought a strip off her

She was tiny. White hair, a bit windswept, thin hands, a red woollen coat worn for many years with matching red lipstick

And I noticed even back then that she had watery, gentle blue eyes, that were full of interest and candor

" Does your friend want any tickets too?" she asked , her eyes twinkling and I was half amused by the term "friend" a word which was often bandied around by people too shy or too uncomfortable to call a spade a spade
Only Gladys was not uncomfortable, she was just searching for the right word to use
"He is my partner and not a friend and yes he will have some tickets from you" I told her kindly
Gladys laughed
"I was going to call him your boyfriend " she said "but you are both far too old to be called that!!!"

At 96, on the day of our marriage, the old girl walked all the way down from her house on High Street to present me with a wedding gift over the kitchen wall and when I remarked that I never thought I would see the day that two men would be allowed to Marry each other
she clapped her frail hands together and laughed her musical Welsh laugh and with her blue eyes twinkling she then held her hands to her chin

"How marvellous" she cried…It is the law!”

yes....how bloody marvellous!

Gladys opening the Flower Show 

2016